Realisation of RTE Act 2009 in Jharkhandrighttoeducation.in/sites/default/files/Citizens' charter of Demand.pdf3 Realisation of RTE Act 2009 in Jharkhand Citizens’ Charter of Demand

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Realisation of RTE Act 2009 in Jharkhand

Citizens’ Charter of Demand - 2013

PrefaceThis “Citizens’ Charter of Demand” mainly focuses on elementary education and realization of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 commonly known as RTE Act, 2009, which has been prepared through consultation with various civil society organizations across the state, renowned academicians, social activists, academic institutions, state budget groups of civil society organizations, Govt. officials who are engaged with educational programmes, Teachers’ unions, children who are the important stakeholders in the process of access to quality education and School Management Committee (SMCs) who have been an integral part of RTE Act 2009 and its implementation.

The year 2012 is important because the first bill to make education a fundamental right was introduced in the year 1911 and after struggle of almost 101 years we got “The RTE Act 2009”. In spite of various other lacunas such as the act does not include the children below 6 years and over 14 years, the norms and standards provided are inadequate for a national system of public education, even then we need to respond to various other provisions, which will be helpful in the process of ensuring child education in Jharkhand.

This document is comprised of 4 sections. Section-A contains the glimpse of RTE Act 2009. Section-B contains the description of context related to education. Section-C articulate about citizens charter of demands and Section-D share about activities carried out by JRTEF and its associates in Jharkhand.

We extend special thanks to Mr. Binay Pattnayak, Education Specialist, UNICEF, Jharkhand, Mr. Pravind Kumar Praveen, Regional Head, Oxfam India, Patna, Mr. Madhukar, Eminent Journalist, Salahkar Sampadak, Khabar Mantra, Ms. Nirjharini Rath, LEADS, Mr. Binay Ohdar, Action Aid, Mr. Argya Mukherjee, Plan India, Mr. Abhijeet Mukherjee, CRY, Mr. A Nirmal, Save the Children, Mr. Ganesh Reddy, State Representative, NCPCR, Dr. Suranjeen, CINI members of JPEF & CREJ and other stakeholders of Jharkhand Right to Education Forum (JRTEF) for their support in preparing this “Citizens’ Charter of Demand” and giving their input in the whole process. We hope this document will draw the kind attention of the decision makers towards realization of the RTE Act 2009 in Jharkhand.

We sincerely appreciate the supports which have been extended by Action Aid and its partners (APCL and Others) for releasing the “Citizens’ Charter of Demand”. We hope, this generous thematic and moral support will continue in future too in the greater interest of the children of Jharkhand.

A K SinghConvener,

Jharkhand Right to Education Forum (JRTEF) & Director LEADS

(Mobile No. : 9431356092)

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Citizens’ Charter of Demand on Education


CHARTER OF DEMAND

The purpose of this “Citizens’ Charter of Demand” is to draw the kind attention of decision makers toward implementation of the “Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009” in Jharkhand. The Act has been in force from 1st April 2010 and Jharkhand State Rule was notified on 11th May 2011, but still many things have not been in place even after 2.5 years of the implementation of the Act. The “Jharkhand Right to Education Forum” (JRTEF) has been committed towards “Ensuring access and qualitative education for each child of Jharkhand”. This Citizens’ Charter of Demand has been prepared on the basis of LEADS study in 16 districts of Jharkhand in randomly sampled 240 schools, study of various other documents of GoJ, ASER report, ASER- UNICEF study on classroom process, field observations and various other sources of information like news papers, input from different academicians, discussion with teachers’ unions, Jharkhand Viklang Sangha, etc. The demands have been arranged chapter wise for the convenience of decision makers and other stakeholders.

Section A : Glimpse of RTE Act 2009

Background of the RTE Act 2009v United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) which was ratified by India in

1992.

v Historic Supreme Court judgment in the case of Unnikrishnan v. State of Andhra Pradesh in 1993 where the Honorable Supreme Court declared the right to education as a ‘fundamental right’ of every child.

v The Constitution of India, the 86th Constitutional Amendment inserting Article 21A, Articles 23, 24, 39 (e & f), 41, 45 and 46, education as “Fundamental Rights”

Chapter 1: Preliminary

v The act is named as the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009.

v It is extended to whole of India except Jammu and Kashmir.

v “Child” means male or female of age group between 6 to 14 yrs.

v “Child belonging to disadvantaged group” means child from ST/SC and other socially and economically backward class

v “Child belonging to weaker section” means child is from BPL family.

v “Elementary education” means education from I-VIII class.

v “Guardian” means natural guardian or those appointed by a court

v “Local authority” means authority having control over school viz. Municipal Corporation, Municipal Council, Zila Parishad, Nagar Panchayat etc.

v “School” means those established, owned and controlled by appropriate Govt. or the local authority, those receiving grants from Govt or local authority, those belonging to specified category, and unaided schools.

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Chapter 2: Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education

v According to this act every child between 6-14 yrs has a right to free and compulsory elementary education in a neighborhood school.

v No fee will be charged by the school for the completion of elementary education.

v Children with more than 6 yrs of age can take admission in a class appropriate to his/her age and continue studies even after 14 yrs of age. These children can take free special training to attain higher grade and inclusive education.

v Equal opportunities, protection, full participation etc will be provided to the children with special needs, SCs, STs and Girls.

v Transfer to other schools is permitted, if there is no facility for completion of elementary education in previous school. Transfer certificate will be issued by the Head teacher or In-charge of the school. Delay in issue of transfer certificate will not create barrier in the child’s admission in other schools.

v Child required moving from one school to another, either within a state or outside, for any reason whatsoever, such child shall have a right to seek transfer to any other school for completing his or her elementary education.

v For seeking admission in such other school, the Head-teacher or In-charge of the school where such child was last admitted, shall immediately issue the transfer certificate.

Chapter 3: Duties of Appropriate Govt. and Local Authorities

v It is the duty of the appropriate govt. or the local authority to establish school in the limits of neighborhood within the period of 3 yrs from the commencement of the act.

v To provide free and compulsory elementary education to children between 6-14 yrs of age group

v To ensure that a child from weaker section/disadvantaged group is not discriminated in any form

v Maintenance of school building, teaching staff and learning equipments

v Ensuring regular attendance of children and completion of schools up to VIII class

v Training of teachers and prescribing curriculum for quality education.

v Making arrangements for free pre- school education of children below 6 yrs of age.

v The local authority will maintain record of children up to 14 yrs, ensure admission of children from migrant families, monitor school within its jurisdiction and decide the academic calendar.

v If the child is admitted in a school other than those owned and controlled by the appropriate Govt. or local authority then the expenditure incurred in the elementary education of the child will not be reimbursed.

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Duties of State and Central Governmentv Under the act the Central and State govt. will provide funds for carrying out the provisions of

this act.

v Central Govt. will prepare estimation of expenses (capital and recurring) for the implementation of the provisions of the act.

v The central govt. will develop national curriculum, develop standards of teaching and provide technical support to state Govt. for promoting innovation, researches etc.

v Duty of parent or guardian is to admit the child between 6-14 yrs for elementary education in the neighborhood school.

Chapter 4: Responsibilities of Schools and Teachers

v It is the duty of the school to provide free and compulsory elementary education to all the admitted children.

v It is the responsibility of the private and specified category schools to reserve 25% of seats for children belonging to weaker sections and disadvantaged groups.

v If any school is imparting primary education from a long time, it will have to reserve 25% seats for disadvantaged children and the expenses will be covered by the state Govt.

v School will have to provide any type of information regarding the school as and when demanded by the Appropriate Govt. or Local Authority.

v During admission, capitation fees and screening procedures are not permitted by schools. If found guilty will be charged 10 times of the capitation fees with a fine of Rs 25,000 for first time and Rs 50,000 for each contravention.

v Age proof is required at the time of admission but it will not be considered mandatory.

v Admission of children at schools shall take place with the beginning of academic year, during extended period and even after the extended period provided the child shall complete his/her studies as prescribed by the Govt and in such cases, children have right to get special training

v No child will be expelled or held back in any class up to VIII standard.

v Certificate of recognition is mandatory for the establishment of school other than those owned and controlled by appropriate Govt. or Local Authority. If a school is running without recognition, it shall be liable to fine.

v A school should constitute a school management committee consisting of representatives of local authorities, 3/4th members as guardians and 50% women members.

v School management committee should perform the functions of monitoring the work of school, preparation of school development plan, monitoring of the grant utilization from appropriate Govt. and local authority etc.

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Responsibilities of Teacherv The eligibility criteria for the appointment of teachers in such schools should be minimum

qualification as fixed by an academic authority.

v Relaxation in the qualification of teachers will be made in case of non availability of teachers provided that the teacher should acquire such minimum qualification within a period of 5 yrs.

v The duties of teachers will include regular attendance in schools, conduct and complete curriculum within a specified time, assessment of child, holding meeting with parents and providing inputs about the children for their progress.

v The teachers failing to perform their duties is liable to disciplinary action but will be provided with an opportunity of being heard.

v The Govt. and Local Authority will maintain pupil-teacher ratio as mentioned in the act and no shuffling of teachers will be done.

v It will be ensured that the strength of teachers will not be less than 10% of the total sanctioned strength.

v Deployment of teachers for non educational purposes (except for election duties, disaster relief duties and Census) is strictly prohibited.

v Teachers are prohibited from taking private tuitions

Chapter 5: Curriculum and Completion of Elementary Education

v Curriculum and evaluation procedure laid down by academic authority should consider conformity with the values enshrined in the constitution, overall development of the child, building up child’s knowledge and potential, physical and mental development of child, and expressive and friendly learning followed by their evaluation.

v Till the completion of elementary education no child need to pass board exams.

v After the completion of elementary education a certificate will be provided.

Chapter 6: Protection of Rights of Children

v The national commission for protection of child rights will examine and review protected rights under the act and suggest measures and take necessary steps for its successful implementation.

v In absence of state commission for protection of child rights the appropriate Govt. will form similar type of authority for performing functions related to protection of child.

v Any type of grievances related to the right of a child under the act will be solved with a written complaint filed to the local authority within a period of 3 months. If not the state commission for protection of child rights or the newly formed authority will solve the matter.

v A national advisory council will be formed by the central Govt. consisting of not more than 15 members having knowledge and experience on elementary education and child development.

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v The council will give advice to the Central Govt. on implementation of the provisions of act and effective measures.

v Similarly the state Govt. will form a state advisory council consisting of not more than 15 members having knowledge and experience on elementary education and child development. The state council will give advice to the state Govt. for effective implementation of the provisions of the act.

Chapter 7: Miscellaneous

v The Central Govt. may issue guidelines to the appropriate Govt. or local authority so that it may give directions to the school management committee for the proper implementation of the provisions of the act.

v The rules/notification for carrying out the provisions of the act will be made by the appropriate Govt. which will include the manners of giving training and the time limit, area for establishment of neighborhood school, manner of maintenance of records of children up to 14 yrs, manner of reimbursement of expenditure, any other document for determining the age of child, manner of completing study if admitted after the extended period, manner of making application for certificate of recognition, other functions of school management committee, preparation of school development plan, duties of teachers, redressal of grievances, payment of salary and allowances, course completion certificate, allowances, terms and conditions for appointment of members of state and national advisory council.

v The rule or notification should be laid by the central Govt. before each house of parliament. If rule is modified or removed with the consensus of both houses, the decision will be considered as final.

v The rule /notification made by the state Govt. should be laid before the state legislatures.

v No legal proceedings shall lie against action taken by the central and state Govt, national and state commission for protection of child rights, local authority and school management committee in pursuance of this act.

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Section B : Present Context

STATuS OF EDuCATiON iN JHARKHAND:

The literacy rate of Jharkhand as per the census 2011 is 67.63%, which is very less in comparison to national rate of literacy. The draft report also says the high drop outs, less infrastructure, more Para teacher compared to regular teacher, no proper training to teacher and no participation from PTAs, SMCs, SHGs and many more issues are the major concerns in elementary education in Jharkhand.

Educational Development index (EDi): NUEPA ranked 35 states and UTs, based on 21 indicators on Access, Infrastructure, Teachers and Outcomes and developed a composite EDI where Jharkhand stands at 34 among the 35 states/UTs.

As per our study, collection of information from various sources like ASER Report, LEADS Study, UNICEF Documents, Discussions, Observations, Govt. Sources etc., we would like to share the following contextual realities of Jharkhand before articulating Citizens’ Charter of Demand. This will help the reader/decision makers to understand the ground reality.

Chapter 1: Preliminary

v Quality education has not been in place in all 24 districts in Jharkhand as per various academic indicators of quality of elementary education.

v Multi-grade schools – where one or two teachers manage children of two or more classes in the same room. There are cases where still schools are run by single teacher

v In some of the schools there was no teacher found in place during study because of their engagements in non teaching activities.

v 4.7% of children of 6-14 years are not enrolled in schools’ in Jharkhand in spite of various efforts.

Chapter 2: Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education

v Inadequate no of teachers in all schools. Teacher People Ratio is as per our study 1:44. The percentage of female teacher to male is comparatively less.

v 71% teachers are not aware about the RTE Act & its provisions in all 24 districts

v While most of the schools are having Pucca building because of financial provision of Sarva Sikshya Abhiyan, yet the quality of these buildings are never checked from safety parameter.

v Basic safety measures and amenities such as boundary, green campus, electricity as well as playground are missing from the fray in most of the schools

v 92% schools having safe drinking water facilities but in 15% cases, tube wells are not working.

v 72% schools having separate toilet for boys and girls but 25% of such toilets are not functional and lacks running water.

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v 88% schools received text book very late in 2011 and 2012.

v 29% School Library is visible out of 240 schools but that too is not properly updated and used by children

v 19% boundary (either permanent/temporary) available out of 240 schools

v Electricity and computer facility is a still dream in all visited schools.[0%]

Chapter 3: Duties of Appropriate Govt. and Local Authorities

v There is very few report which says neighborhood schools are still a dream for under privileged group

v Inclusive education is yet to be visible in all 24 districts and Education department needs to work for inclusive education to realise the important provision of RTE 2009.

Chapter 4: Responsibilities of Schools and Teachers

v Around 40% regular teachers are available in all 24 districts.

v More than 61% students having language different than mother tongue/ home language, which leads to drop out and poor level of learning at standard I and II.

v Around 45000 teachers (including both Regular and Para teacher) are yet to be recruited. 20,000 upgraded primary schools had been completely affected because of unavailability of teachers.

v Training for around 19000 untrained teachers is yet to be rolled out .

v Most of the teacher comes from far away so they don’t afford time for the students which is required under RTE Act 2009. The engagements of teacher for academic purposes as per the RTE Act is not ensured.

v 94% teachers are getting teaching learning materials are being provided to schools. However they are locked and found in the office room only. They are not available/used inside the classroom

v Child- centred way of teaching and learning is missing

v CCE is yet to be implemented (non of the school except few own initiatives has started CCE which is also negligible)

v 5% schools have some short of remedial classes which is also because of community initiative

v Connection is missing between the quality of education to the children of special needs and the differently abled children.

v Teachers’ effort is expected to enrol 100% students but regular average attendance is less than 60% on the day of survey in each school

v No proper attention is provided to differently abled children

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v Teachers are overloaded e. g, they are engaged in maintaining the MDM, Govt surveys, Census, construction work for school, help in elections etc.

v Due to less teachers, shortage of classrooms, poor salary for para teacher and more other non teaching engagements, the motivation among few teachers found very less

v Government supervision is very poor. Just routine visit is done with MDM and other basic needs. There is no thrust on quality education during supervision/monitoring and concluded with paper work only without any impact.

v 89% SMC have been formed in all 240 schools but SMCs are not functional even members do not know their membership

v More than 90% members are not aware of the various provisions of RTE ACT/ Rule

v 9% SMC members are aware about their roles and responsibility.

v 34% female members are in SMC, 82% SMC president are male

v SMC members are not participating in the school management due to lack of awareness about their role & responsibilities

v 63% MDM is under SMC supervision out of 240 visited schools.

Chapter 5: Curriculum and Completion of Elementary Education

v State curriculum, syllabus and text books are yet to be developed in the context of Jharkhand.

v No initiative for helping children, whose mother tongue is different from Hindi. UNICEF’s socio- linguistic survey says , 95% children have a different mother tongue which is different from Hindi.

Chapter 6: Protection of Rights of Children

Parent Teachers Associationv Only 19% parents have spend time towards their children education because they are engaged

in their livelihood

v 37% parents are not satisfied with MDM both in quality and quantity

v They are not able to think of the total development of their children due to poverty and other issues.

v PTAs’ meeting are hardly found on monthly basis because parents are unaware of their membership in SMC

v 81% parents reported that they had not heard about SMC in school

Communityv There’s a lack of communication between SHG, SMC and School and vise versa.

v The information about RTE is not shared among the community.

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v The information about the progress of the children is not frequently reported to the parents. Even if When the information is shared with the parents, many are illiterate and they can’t understand/receive the information.

v Parents are not always aware of the importance of education for their children because of their poverty & extreme vulnerability.

v People are not sufficiently aware of their role in the SMC and people are also not aware of their rights. Hence they do not know what needs to be done in school using available resources.

v People are not sufficiently equipped to guide their children in school matters due to shortness of literate people to help in schools and replace teachers (youth is insufficiently involved in the community).

v Parents are not used of being mobilised in taking actions related to school matters.

v Children have no platform until now to express their ideas and experience about school and other concerned matter

Bal Sansadv 84% Bal Sansads have been formed but are not functional and most of the children do not

know that they are in Bal Sansad

v They donot know about child rights and RTE Act.

v 28% Bal Sansads are meeting regularly at-least once in a month and 78% gender equality is there in Bal Sansad.

v 20% Bal Sansad members are participating in SMC meeting whenever conducted

Chapter 7: Miscellaneous

v The state does not have a tracking and monitoring mechanism to look into the issue of child rights and their violations. Hence many cases of child rights violation still remain unaddressed.

v NCPCR’s public hearing discussed around 45 cases of child right violation in February 2012. However none of these issues have been appropriately addressed by the state.

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Section C : Our DemandsWe have discussed the RTE Act 2009 in brief in nutshell and the existing context of Jharkhand in brief relation to realization of RTE Act 2009 in Jharkhand. We the Citizen of Jharkhand are forwarding the following demands to the major stakeholders who are either responsible to implement the act or monitoring of the progress of the act in Jharkhand with this hope that these demand will be responded adequately in future course of action.

v To provide schools and other support to each child of our state, there is a need of adequate provisions of funds for implementation of RTE Act 2009. This will help to provide required number of classes to each school, school building to each locality within the distance of 1 Km for primary schools and 2 Km for upper primary schools, separate toilets of boys and girls, fencing/boundary wall to each school, functional drinking water facilities to each school, electricity and broad band internet connections to the schools wherever possible, play grounds, sports item, laboratory in the schools etc which are the important criteria for quality education. This will also ensure more retention of all children in the schools which has been not only state concern but of national interest. So, we demand allocation to the extent of 6% of GDP of national budget for education and accordingly state should also allocate its own contribution to implement RTE Act 2009 in Jharkhand

v Roadmap for meeting the standards of infrastructure (class rooms, drinking water facilities, school boundary, toilets (including separate toilet for girls), playgrounds, kitchen sheds as defined in RTE should be clearly worked out to meet the requirement of 2013 milestones backed by adequate budgetary provision. We oppose any type of extension in time beyond 2013, If so, it should be with concrete action plan and adequate budgetary provisions with given time frame.

v To provide adequate number of trained teachers to each school there is a need of more allocation and sustained provisions in central and state budget, which has been lacking since beginning of implementation of the act. Still there is a lack of large number of trained teachers and wherever they are available they are engaged in non teaching activities and Para teachers are mainly playing role of teacher which is one of the major hurdle in providing quality education to the children of govt / govt aided schools.

v Provisions for maintaining the Teacher Student ratio. i. e 1:30 for primary schools and 1:35 for upper primary schools and class wise teacher in class 6 to 8 and other required teachers as per RTE-2009 needs to be made mandatory for each school. So we demand immediate recruitment of required teachers to meet the provisions of RTE Act 2009.

v The State government should make proper planning for 0-6 years of children, 6-14 years of children and 14-18 years of children so that proper support to each child is ensured, which will ultimately help the children in becoming responsible citizen of state/country. We demand Specific plan by GoJ to meet the requirements and needs of children of these age group to ensure their natural growth.

v Vocational education for the children of class 6th onward may be focused to have better

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understanding and orientation of livelihood options, which may help children in developing their life skills and entrepreneurial skill and later on self employment. We demand appropriate provisions to be made by GoJ for children’s skill development needs and provide appropriate opportunities for linkages for self employment when needed.

v The timely supply/support of books, dress, scholarships, cycles for girls etc needs to be ensured which is by and large lacking in the state. We demand session wise delivery of each of the state support to ensure the quality education.

v We find that the various types of talents exist in remote areas but there is no such provisions which can identify such talents and promote them. State plan may add on this idea through various other provisions for coming five years. We demand for state plan to search such talents and make provisions for growth and promotion of such talents from the remote villages.

v Children who belong to remote areas and naxalite affected area, special provision and support is required because most of the time, schools do not function properly in such areas because of regular disturbances and conflicts between state and naxalites.

v The unit cost needs to be increased for all children with more focus on STs, SCs, CWSN and other children of marginalized sections. This will largely help in providing quality education to the children having less access to education because of various reasons like distance, poor infrastructure, their own poverty etc.

v Issues related to migrant children still is a concern and needs to be supported with mobile education centers to such children.

v There is a need of rationalization of duality within the state supported schools’ such as Govt spent big amount in special category school like Navodaya Vidyalaya, Indira Gandhi Residential School etc and very less resource in the Govt schools. Secondly, there is no comparison (big gap) in the investment in private schools and Government schools also. So in a way we are promoting various types of citizens in India which will affect the national growth in future and needs to be addressed adequately by the GoJ. So, We demand common education system.

v Ensure requirements for inclusion of children with special needs. This includes immediate barrier free access in all schools for children with disability, recruitment of specially trained teachers and training of existing teachers to enable them to teach children with disability in their classrooms. Special provisions for the children with special needs at all level in the schools will help to have inclusive education like appropriate comfortable access to classrooms, ramps, toilets, other facilities of schools, social security etc needs to be made compulsory for each school in Jharkhand.

v There is a need of increasing the awareness level of teachers on RTE-2009 and its various provisions. Still there is lacuna and teachers are not aware about various provisions of RTE-2009. We demand a complete training package for teachers to make them well conversant with the Act.

v The quality training of teachers is one of the important area of RTE Act-2009 under the roles

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of state and central Govt. There should be focus of state plan to make adequate provisions for quality training of teachers through good and equipped teachers training institutions. This will help teachers to use various other pedagogic approach/methods to provide quality education. We demand accreditation of training colleges and institutions and thereby ensuring quality training to each teacher which is the core element for quality education.

v The private schools must be regulated with appropriate provisions to provide education to 25% children of poor families in private schools.

v The better quality of teaching learning materials (TLM), text books and other support materials should be preferably prepared in the local/regional languages, so that children of various regions find it useful and have interest in such TLM and Books. The materials and books may also include various important life skills, saving habits, financial education, moral education etc to get acquainted with new economic and changed social system of the context.

v Still engagement of teachers in non teaching work is not as per RTE-2009. The state needs to make it mandatory not to engage teachers in non teaching work except three defined engagement under RTE Act-2009. This should be one of the criteria to get central Govt support

v Defining ‘Local Authority’ as per the Act to meet the requirements of the provisions under RTE needs to be done immediately, which has to recognize distinct context of schedule and non-scheduled areas

v School Management Committee (SMC) : SMC has major roles in implementation of RTE Act and it is most ignorant body in the state. There is provision in the Act that 3 years planning will be done by SMC. But there is a need of more clear guidelines and approval of plan and roles of SMC in its implementation. There needs to be a focused drive for School Development Plan and its implementation by SMCs.

v Language should be one of the criteria to appoint teachers mainly in tribal areas

v Non occupancy of school by forces in remote and naxal affected areas needs to be made mandatory. Still some of the schools have been occupied by paramilitary forces.

v Reducing dropout has been one of the target of RTE Act 2009, but still there is big gap between enrollment and attendance/retention and in some cases this gaps goes up to 40-50%. So, in state plans, focus should not be only enrollment but also a retention, quality and joyful learning.

v Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) is not conducted in the schools which needs to be focused and made mandatory for each school because annual exam is no more mandatory, Hence, to ensure quality of education CCE is very important. This also provides space for identification of weak students and making provision of separate training for such students. After TOT in the State no major initiative has been taken up by the state.

v Strict operationalisation of National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005 and customization of state curriculum needs to be focused in state plan because Jharkhand is indifferent in

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customization of its course curriculum. This is important area and as per act there will be one curriculum framework but still there is no any such major initiative taken up to address this concern.

v Geo-specific curriculum and recruitment of teachers as per the specific socio-cultural need to be ensure. Review of teacher training curriculum to ensure sensitivity to tribal culture, identity and language need to be given higher priority.

v The State needs to set up a full fledged SCERT to plan and operationalised the Teacher Education plan as desired under the Act.

v A complete ban on Corporal Punishment, violence and any form of discrimination against children should be notified fixing the accountability and procedures for the same.

v There is a need to take effective initiative to promote SCPCR and make it more operational in the state and independent of state interventions. More functional authority and support to SCPCR is required. The civil society interaction with SCPCR needs to be on periodical basis to take stock of the situation.

v Monitoring and Supervision is very poor at present. Many schools are closed down after mid day meal and this is very commonly seen in the remote rural areas. So, there should be adequate provisions and allocations with expenditure guideline for promotion of School Management Committee who will play an important role in proper function of schools. Unfortunately, in spite of various efforts people did not responded well in the past because of lack of knowledge on their roles and responsibility. This is important area and needs to be focused separately with operational guideline in the state plan, otherwise poor function of SMC may lead to defunct or poor functioning of schools in the Govt or Govt aided schools.

v A provisions for regular awareness campaign is required for parents to reduce the rate of dropouts.

v PRi may monitor all child related activities, schools, schemes etc and a clear guideline needs to be developed by GoJ with the provisions of customization as per culture of state. This needs to make it mandatory because this is very much functional in few other states.

v Mapping and filling of all gaps in administrative staffing (accounts, audit, and secretarial support to teachers) needs to be priority in the coming session.

THEREFOREWe, the members of civil society, are very much concerned and committed towards free

and compulsory education of every child as reflected in the RTE Act. We intend to support

and strengthen readiness of children, schools and system as a whole to enable the system

facilitates RTE compliance at every level. However the state has a long way to go in terms

of RTE compliance as reflected in the study findings. We urge the duty bearers to raise to

the occasion and deliver as desired under the RTE Act to make RTE a reality of every child

in Jharkhand.

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Section D : JRTEF Activities in The Year 2012

a. interventions of JRTEF in briefv Jharkhand Right to Education Forum organised a state level stock taking conference on

realisation of RTE Act 2009 in Jharkhand at SDC, Ranchi between 25th – 26th Feb 2012. OXFAM INDIA, Plan India, Save the Children, LEADS, Wada Naa Todo Abhiyan, UNICEF, CRY, Jharkhand Primary Education Forum (JPEF), CINI, Development Focus, CREJ and various other organizations were part of the stock taking conference. Mr. Arjun Munda, Honorable Chief Minister was the Chief Guest of the inaugural session and Mr. C. P. Singh, Honorable Speaker, Assembly of Jharkhand was the Chief Guest of concluding session. We shared our demand with the guests during the session.

v Forum had few activities after last stock taking in the month of February 2012. We had 4 core committee meetings in the year 2012, where we segregated the issues for field level intervention focusing more on SMC, district level intervention through partners on identified issues and state level intervention through JRTEF/Other networks and made strategic plan for future intervention for realization of RTE Act 2009. (Courtesy: Oxfam India, Plan India, Development focus)

v We had 3 programmes with in Doordarshan where various issues were discussed and telecasted in a live programme in the evening. The focuses were girl’s education, 25% reservation for marginalised children, Quality education and realisation of RTE in Jharkhand. (Courtesy: Doordarshan)

v We have developed a manual and postures for SMC which will be helpful in School Development Plan. (Courtesy: Development Focus through JPEF)

v We are promoting 32 SMCs in 6 districts as a model and their performance will be studied and concerns will be raised before state authority in the annual stock taking conference. (Courtesy: Development Focus through JPEF)

v We are also taking up few activities in another 10 districts with the support of Oxfam India which will help us in the state federation building of SMC. This programme will be organised by local partners. (Courtesy: Oxfam India)

v 6 JRTEF forum members attended the National stock taking conference and community mobilisation conference on 3rd and 4th April and 28th and 29th June 2012 respectively in Delhi. (Courtesy: National RTE Forum)

v Report Card: CINI is preparing a report card on the situation of RTE Act in Jharkhand. (Courtesy: Plan India)

v Save the Children and CRY are promoting SMCs through their partners in their respective area to promote successful case study toward realization of RTE Act 2009 in Jharkhand.

v CRY is facilitating legislative advocacy to raise the important concern of RTE Act in Jharkhand insolderity with CREJ

v State Consultation for “Citizens Charter of Demand” was organized on 1st Dec 2013 at LEADS Training Hall at Ranchi. (Courtesy: Action Aid & APCL)

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v State Conference to Release the “Citizens’ Charter of Demand” on 22nd Dec. 2012 at Hotel Arya in which more than 70 participants were present. Mr. K. N. Tripathy, Deputy Leader of Opposition, Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha was the chief guest to release the booklet on Citizens’ Charter of Demand. JRTEF organized the above mentioned events to respond to the emerging issues related to realization of Rights of the Children. (Courtesy: Action Aid & APCL)

v Wide range of material developed for familiarizing different stakeholders and duty bearers with various aspects of the Right to Education Act. This includes child/community friendly version of RTE act (Shiksha Mera Adhikar Hai!) developed in 12 languages, posters, films, sticker, docket, notebook, etc. (Courtesy: UNICEF)

v 112 RTE scripts, 160 RTE songs and 100 odd slogans and radio jingles developed in 13 crucial areas related to elementary education. Material used in statewide Shiksha Ka Haque Abhiyan. (Courtesy: UNICEF)

v 250 Govt. schools in 13 districts Bal Priya Vidyalaya. (Courtesy: UNICEF)

v Mother Tongue based active language learning cell established in JTWRI, Govt. of Jharkhand in colaboration with all universities, concerned Govt. departments, NGOs, media, Language experts etc. (Courtesy: UNICEF)

v Technical support extended to SSA for capacity building of teachers, Head Teachers, SMCs, CRCs, BRCs, PRIs, etc. in RTE Act 2009. (Courtesy: UNICEF)

v JRTEF convener attended the national consultation of teachers union and civil society organisation at Bhuneshwar from 19th to 20th December 2012 and shared the important issue of Jharkhand.

b. immediate Future Actionsv LEADS is also conducting professional study on realization of RTE Act 2009 in Jharkhand in all

the 24 districts of Jharkhand. (Courtesy: Oxfam India)

v National RTE Forum is facilitating a process of study of realization of RTE in 100 schools of 5 districts of Jharkhand to know the ground realities of realization of RTE Act 2009 in Jharkhand. (Courtesy: Action Aid)

v LEADS is in the process of forming a state level federation of SMCs in Jharkhand and also tracking education budget expenditure up to school level to know the nature of expenditure and extent of realization of allocated budget in each school. (Courtesy: Oxfam India)

v Stock taking is proposed on 25th and 26th Feb 2013 in Ranchi to review the progress of realization of RTE Act 2009 in Jharkhand in which SMC will be major focus.

v Report card is in the process of preparation on realization of RTE Act 2009 by CINI with the support of Plan India in which partners from across the state are participating.

v One Day Meeting with Teacher’s Union is proposed in the month of January 2013

v One conference is proposed for realization of the article of RTE Act 2009 related to 25% reservation for poor children in private schools. (Courtesy: Oxfam India)

v Snap shot study in progress to study 32 SMCs in 6 districts through JPEF. (Courtesy: Development Focus)